Recently, one of ours locals fell down the rabbit hole of understanding masts, curve, hard vs soft top, etc. Typically, this rabbit hole is found in the area of sails that use masts that are a little (or lot) less vanilla such as Maui, HotSailsMaui, and Neil Pryde.
I, too, have been down that hole after a fortuitous purchase of a Pryde sail on ebay that turned into a 3 month odyssey to find the right mast.
Here's a pretty good explanation:
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I've felt for a long time than North sails were designed to work only with North mast which are always just a little bit different. Likewise, a North mast doesn't like any other brand sail. Otherwise they suck. I've usually been pretty happy with Pryde sails on any mast, with only one exception, and that may have been a batten problem.
What happens in a black hole stays in a black hole.
That's because neither you nor I have bought decent gear since ... well, a long time. North did tend to favor hard top masts and Prydes worked fine on the ubiquitous Fiberspars that we all owned.
Today, North is pretty much in the middle of the road and Pryde is over to one side: https://www.unifiber.net/masts-selector
If you go back a few editions, you can see the spread was a little wider: https://www.unifiber.net/masts-selector-2012-v2
I do have to admit most of my sails are are early 21st century vintage. So while Pryde used to good, it will probably take me another decade or two to discover that Pryde has gone sideways.
What happens in a black hole stays in a black hole.
The last 3 years I have committed to buying the exact mast recommended for my sails. Has it made a difference? Hell yes! I was able to reduce my quiver from 7 to 5 sails. I’m just getting that much more range out of my sails. You could probably compare the difference between using carbon vs aluminum booms. You can sail your whole life with aluminum and be perfectly happy, but once you try carbon, there is no going back.
Still desending down the rabbit hole...possibly gaining speed
Shopping for a mast...
--- The Arrogant Jerk: Crabby and irritable since 1998.
I forget which of the Captains of the Windsurfing Industry said it, but a profound statement was that "so much about windsurfing gear is about feel" or something to that effect. I'd been using carbon for a while and forgot my boom one day. I borrowed an alloy boom and was shocked at how "harsh" the sail felt. I have no idea whether carbon booms made me a better sailor (in fact, all the evidence is that it couldn't have been very effective) but it sure made my sessions seem better. I think the same thing applies in the case of masts. (So stuff that down your rabbit hole and smoke it.)
What happens in a black hole stays in a black hole.
A few years old and mentioned elsewhere before but really good reading while you are cohabitating with the rabbits
http://www.peterman.dk/windsurf-mast-article-gb01.htm and there's a link to his chart.
A few of the brands have moderated since his chart was assembled.
Another chart with 2017 sails (pdf)
http://gohlicke.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/WS_MastCompare.pdf
Also uploaded a local copy in case the link breaks in the future.